A.J. Smith is an admirer of the great orators, especially those who used the power of words to inspire nations and revolutions. The Chargers’ general manager has several quotations framed and placed strategically in his office, fuel for his think tank when he’s running low on think.

And that needle has dipped down toward empty more than once over the past two seasons.

His favorite is Winston Churchill (as he knows is mine), and so before our talk he breaks out a new print of a Churchillian gem and tosses it across his desk toward me. It reads: “You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something sometime in your life.”

Now I don’t know if Smith has many enemies — undoubtedly a few agents and a sportswriter or two — but he certainly has a legion of detractors, those who believe it would have been a bloody good idea for boss Dean Spanos to throw A.J. and coach Norv Turner out onto Murphy Canyon Road after last year’s 8-8 season.

But Smith’s only concern is what Spanos thinks. He says it all the time, that he serves year to year, at his boss’ pleasure. If he gets canned, he will thank Dean for the opportunity and go on his way. If he has enemies, they’ll have to wait, because he’s back, and it says here he’s had a dandy offseason restocking a 2011 roster he admits to have screwed up.

“I’m happy to be here,” he says. “I’m basically a spectator now. I’m locked in to ’12. I’m locked and loaded on ’12. Dean Spanos said I’m coming back and I said ‘Let’s go to work.’ Whatever happens, I’m like everybody else, just passing through Charger history. In the book it will say: ‘He was here 2003 — dash — whenever.’

“Now, get it done.”

I have a pretty good line on A.J. Smith — he’s full of it, a master puller of legs — but I don’t know what to make of his team. Given all the new faces, mostly veterans with solid portfolios, it should be better. But, while I’m not one to put much stock in exhibition games, the Chargers’ performance in their preseason finale at San Francisco was so pathetic, so lackluster, so I just want to go home, it got me wondering.

Smith is not worried.

“The preseason is a totally different thing for us,” he says. “The team’s basically built. It’s all about practice, doing classroom work and evaluating players and taking care of the injured players. It can’t be that way during the season. The preseason is a revolving door.

“So I’m not overly concerned. The regular season — that first regular-season game Monday night in Oakland — that’s what it’s all about. No excuses then.”

Smith contends last year was his fault, not Turner’s, because he didn’t supply his coach with enough quality backups to step in for the injured. He spent the offseason getting his nails dirty, fixing it (he believes) through free agency and a draft he likes quite a bit.

But that depth already has taken a hit in a bad place — left offensive tackle — where gigantic Jared Gaither has been out nearly all summer with back spasms that have shaken the world. It’s all about protecting quarterback Philip Rivers’ blind side, and the young man now doing so is Mike Harris, an undrafted rookie free agent out of UCLA so green he’s solar-powered.

“We had Gaither at No. 1, Brandyn Dombrowski at No. 2, Tyronne Green, who happens to be our starting left guard, at No. 3, and Mike Harris, a rookie we believe is talented and wanted to work with, at No. 4,” Smith says. “So what happens? Dombrowski hurts his foot. Then it’s Gaither’s back. Green is our starting guard. Suddenly we’re already down to No. 4. So, right away, without playing a game, our backups already are in play.”

If Gaither can’t return for Week 2, look for Smith to bring in a veteran tackle following the Raiders game. It’s much more cost-friendly for a team to do so after the opener. If Smith were to acquire a veteran now, the contract would have to be guaranteed. Not so starting next week.

“There are some people of interest to us; we have some things going,” Smith says. “If we can find someone who we think can help us, we’ll let you know.”

Pure A.J. There are moments when he can’t help being John Wayne or Nobel sarcasm laureate.

“I do like the offseason we had and our draft picks,” he says. “We made a great effort to bring in the best backups out of the biggest free-agent pool I’ve seen. But it’s all a paper exercise so far. We’ll know at the end of the year how we did.

“But we can’t be left bleeding in the road like we were last year. If I had done a better job, maybe we only would have lost three in a row instead of six straight. I think we’ve had an outstanding offseason. Attendance (by players) was great, the attitude unbelievable. We had a phenomenal minicamp. I love the way we’ve prepared.”

So they have prepared. It used to be the Chargers were automatic picks to win the AFC West. No longer. Because their “elite” tag has vanished.

“When you don’t make the playoffs two years in a row you no longer are an elite team,” Smith says. “The people who assess that, looking at our last two years, it makes sense to me.

“But I want back in. I want in bad. It’s on now, brother.”

In that he’s his toughest critic, A.J. Smith doesn’t need enemies. All he needs is A. J. Smith.